Chapter 16
(A/N) Thanks for all the reviews!!! Sorry the last update came late… Next few chapters are going to be interesting… sort of.
Disclaimer: I own the plot, Bella, and Evelyn. J.K. owns everything else.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up in the hospital room, sweating.
It had been a strange dream, but then, weren't all dreams strange?
"I had too much butterbeer," she murmured, before taking a swig of Dreamless Sleep potion.
*~*~*~*~*
"I told you it was a weird dream," James muttered.
"The strangest," Remus agreed, as the two boys joined their friends at the breakfast table.
"What, were you actually good at Charms, Potter?" Lily asked sarcastically behind them.
"Morning, sunshine," James greeted.
"Howdy do!" Sirius said.
"Salutations," Remus nodded.
"'Hello," Peter said sullenly, not being able to think of a better greeting.
"Shut up. So, Potter, what was your dream about?" Lily smirked, as she glanced at a test grade of his that fell out of his Charms book. (140 out of 200)
"A man and a woman. Er, a baby, and… er, Unforgivable Curses."
"Oh?" Lily raised an eyebrow.
"Harry, his name was," James shrugged.
"You're telling me, Potter, that we had the same dream?"
"Huh?"
"What, a new prank? Invading into my dreams as well now, hmm?"
"What?" James asked. "What're you saying, Evans, we had the same dream?"
"So we had the same dream on the same night?" Lily gave a sigh of exasperation. "Forget it. I have to see the Headmaster."
"What happened to your 'it's- spring- so- nothing- can- ruin- my- mood'?" James called after her.
"Is she experiencing mood swings? Cramps? Bloating and fatigue?" Sirius quoted off of a commercial. "I have the solution right here-"
James hit his friend with the Transfiguration textbook.
*~*~*~*~*
"Actually, Miss Evans, I find it very possible that you and Mr. Potter had the same dream."
"What?" Lily cried. "I- don't- want- to- have the same dreams as- as- Potter!"
"Your subconscious has a very good set of premonitions for you, Miss Evans."
"So they'll all really come true?"
Dumbledore chuckled. "Oh, no. Imagine what life would be like, if we had an entire lifetime mapped out for us, always knowing what would happen every second, never being surprised. No, it just takes one detail to change it all. I believe, Miss Evans, that these 'premonitions' come to you to prevent them from happening. If they involve bad things, that is."
"Um, professor, do you think that it was just a coincidence? I mean, me and Potter having the same dream?" Lily asked, a hint of hopefulness in her voice.
"Coincidence? Miss Evans, I do not believe in coincidence. There is always a reason. Not always an explanation, not always a good reason, but there is always a reason. But then, you would have to have a very strong connection with whomever you linked the dream with. How long have you known Mr. Potter?"
"Since we met at Platform 9 3/4."
"Ah. Do you remember your first impression of him?"
"Yes," Lily nodded.
"It was…?"
"That he was a mindless, idiotic, dim-witted, egotistical, feckless, incompetent git."
For a second, Lily thought she saw a twinkle of amusement in Dumbledore's eyes.
"And what brought on this… impression?"
"Oh, nothing magical, if that's what you mean. It's just that he told me to act like a chicken to get on the platform, and to insult the barrier, because that would open it up."
"Oh?" There was no doubt in the amusement of his voice now.
"Yes, sir. I got revenge, though."
"How so, Miss Evans?" More out of curiosity than any other reason.
"Oh, I pushed him into the Lake, later on. Very quick, very fun, and very refreshing."
"I see." Dumbledore nodded, mostly trying to get back to the formalities.
*~*~*~*~*
During Binns' class, History of Magic, both Lily and James fell asleep.
Actually, most of the class fell asleep.
Somewhere between the lecture on the varying types of wandless magic preformed in the past four centuries and the "discussion" of goblins and their slaves and servants (Binns was discussing mainly to walls), James woke up to the same reoccurring dream with a start.
Across the room, Lily murmured, "Not Harry, please not Harry…"
She jerked up, waking herself.
"Miss Evans, would you care to explain to the class your reasons for falling asleep?"
"Sorry, professor… It won't happen again."
When Binns' back was turned, Lily shot James a look of hatred. Her intense green eyes were a darker green than they had been before, or at least they seemed to be at that moment.
Green eyes… the woman in the dream had green eyes, too…
*~*~*~*~*
"…objective of being a prefect is to learn how to work in a group. For this assignment, we will pair you with the other prefect of your house. Minerva?" Dumbledore stepped off the podium.
"Yes, thank you, Albus. Now, for this assignment, you are to start a muggle business within the school. We will be passing out a sheet to you all, with a selection of businesses you may choose, and you must pick one of the three, no others, no swapping options with other prefects. Everything must be done the muggle way, and no magic involved. We will specify when you choose your business. Of course, you also charge a reasonable amount for service. The pair who has the most successful business will not only win many points to their house, but also scrap full of galleons, alright? Get to work now, chop-chop."
Lily slid into a seat beside James. "What're our options, Potter?"
James picked up the parchment. "Uh… selling a product, muggle, of course, psychiatry work, or teaching a muggle sport."
He rather found her annoying once more, even if she was pretty… cross that, serenely beautiful.
"Psychiatry, I like a challenge."
"How do muggle psychiatrists work, anyway?"
"Same as wizards, I suppose."
"With a pensieve and magical solutions?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not quite. They offer advice, sort of. You tell them all your problems, thoughts, reoccurring dreams, stuff like that. Then they interpret it all, or just try to get you to solve it yourself by answering questions with questions. Then they charge you about four times how much they should, according to the hours," Lily answered briskly.
"Rather cynical of you to say that," James noted.
"So?"
"So polite."
"It's not my goal in life to be a nice, polite, ditz, Potter."
"I didn't say that… Just the politeness part."
"You implied."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Shut up!" a nearby group of Ravenclaws said.
"Just because we interrupted your obvious snogging session-"
"Is no reason to interrupt our yelling match," James finished for her.
"And you say I'm not polite?" Lily said.
"Whatever."
"Ditzy girls say that."
"What are you implying? I'm a girl?"
"You said it, not me."
"Shut up."
"Let's get back to the topic," Lily sighed. "Whatever we do, we'd better win."
"Why?"
"Because the only alternative to winning is losing," Lily said, fixing him with him with a cold stare.
"Okay, okay, okay. Touché, aren't we?"
*~*~*~*~*
"Snapecious Lemonade!"
"Learn a muggle sport! Only two sickles a lesson!"
"Tutoring in muggle subjects! Three knuts every half hour!"
Lily chuckled under her breath, knowing that she had an advantage. She, unlike the others, had a basic idea of it all. Besides, they were better off. They had an actual "office" where "customers" could come in privacy. Their first real customer (Sirius had thought it was funny to pretend to need psychiatric help, though Lily insisted that he really did) was Eddie Macmillan, from Hufflepuff.
"I'm desperate. There's this girl… Jessica, I've been wanting to ask her out ever since first year, but I'm too nervous…"
"Get to know her first, she'll come around eventually to see you for what you are," Lily advised.
"Evans, that's crap," James argued. "The only way, Eddie, is to toughen up and ask her."
"Oh, sure, like anyone would date someone they know nothing about," Lily said.
"Well, getting to know her is no way… Once you break up, they hate you."
"Oh, I suppose you have experience in these matters?"
"Evelyn, for instance," James pointed out.
"Evelyn's my friend, you git."
"Well, she was my friend, up until the point I broke up with her, to prove my point."
"She's never was your friend, she's just plain infatuated with you."
"Impressive vocabulary, Evans."
Lily chose to ignore it. "Besides, who says that they're going to break up?"
"Well, it's not like these relationships last when they part. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Jessica a Ravenclaw?"
"She-"
"That's not the point," Lily interrupted Eddie.
"Yes it is. I mean, if she's in Ravenclaw, they'd barely see each other. And once they graduate, it'd be kind of hard to stay together, wouldn't it?"
"Well, then if she's not in it for the long haul, then she's not worth it."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Wow, you guys are really great!" Eddie said.
Lily and James looked up.
"I'm sorry, Eddie, we weren't quite paying attention," Lily said, resuming her professional manner.
"You guys are really great! I mean, two points of views on a topic, that's a great idea! I'll tell all my friends about your business," he promised.
"Er…" James exchanged a look with Lily. "What exactly are you talking about, Eddie?"
"Oh, right. How much, three sickles?"
"Pardon?" Lily stared at him.
"Oh, alright, four sickles, but no more."
"You're paying us for arguing?" James asked.
Eddie nodded. "It's great! I get two views on one topic, you guys are brilliant! I hope you win!"
Lily and James just stared at him.
*~*~*~*~*
(A/N) That was fun to write. Sorry again it took so long! The next update will come in three days at latest, one day at least.
To Come: A few more "customers" for Lily and James, muggle chess, and more on their dreams.